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School Screenings

Every year VAFF hosts free screenings of a socially relevant film for students and their teachers. Experts on film, ethics, and other disciplines speak to the subjects of the film after the screening, providing a fascinating and accessible out of the classroom lesson.

This year, the Virginia Film Festival’s School Screening film is True Justice: Bryan Stevenson’s Fight for Equality. For more than thirty years, Alabama public interest attorney Bryan Stevenson has tirelessly fought for a more equitable criminal justice system. As the founder of the Equal Justice Initiative, Stevenson has dedicated his career to advocating for the disadvantaged, incarcerated, and wrongfully condemned. Weaving together Stevenson’s own story with those of his clients, True Justice: Bryan Stevenson’s Fight for Equalityexamines the history of complicity by our justice system, revealing how a culture built on racial injustice emerged in this country. This documentary also details the opening of the Equal Justice Initiative’s Legacy Museum and the National Memorial for Peace and Justice. This film provides an intimate depiction of Stevenson’s unwavering dedication to equality and the value of seeking truth and reconciliation. A panel of local experts to host a post-screening discussion on the film and Q&A session with the students will be announced later this Fall.

For Educators

The School Screening is free and open to private, public, and homeschooling middle and high school students throughout the Commonwealth. The film will be announced this summer. Advance registration is required and seats are reserved on a first-come, first-served basis.

You can access our Fall 2019 educator sign-up form through the link below. VAFF staff will be in touch with you to confirm event details. Prior to the event, VAFF staff will also provide educators with a classroom study guide for this compelling and important film.

Past School Screenings

In 2018, VAFF screened Science Fair, a documentary that follows nine high school students from around the globe as they navigate rivalries, setbacks, and hormones, on their journey to compete at The International Science and Engineering Fair. The film offers a front seat to the victories, defeats, and motivations of an incredible group of young men and women who are on a path to change their lives, and the world, through science. The film was followed by a panel of local educators and leaders in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math).

In April 2017, VAFF partnered with Youth Leadership Initiative to present the Emmy award-winning documentary Out of Order: Civility in Politics. Out of Order explores what many perceive to be a kind of broken politics in America and examines the decline in civil discourse, partisan gridlock, vanishing commitment to reasonable compromise, declining civic engagement, and factors such as gerrymandering, filibustering, increased showboating, money, and the role of business, scandal, and cynicism. Following the screening, students participated in a civil discussion workshop.

In 2016, VAFF collaborated with Human/Ties and the UVA Center for Politics Youth Leadership Initiative to screen Freedom Riders, a documentary about the hundreds of civil activists who used nonviolence to challenge racial segregation in the American South. To further engage students, a post-screening discussion and Q&A featured director Stanley Nelson and the 1961 Freedom Riders, Rev. Reginald Green, Dion Diamond, and Joan Browning. Freedom Riders Teachers Guide

In 2015, VAFF screened Most Likely To Succeed, a documentary that examines both the history and future of education in the United States. The documentary follows the success of one charter school in San Diego, used as the subject for commentary on the current state of the educational system. Most Likely To Succeed Discussion Guide

In 2013, VAFF presented William and the Windmill, the story of a fourteen-year-old Malawian boy who built an electricity-generating windmill from rough plans in a library book in order to save his family’s farm. A discussion with Ben Nabors, the director of William and the Windmill, Remy Pangle from the Virginia Center for Wind, and Joanna Williams from U.Va.’s Curry School of Education followed the screening. William and the Windmill Study Guide

In January 2012, the Virginia Film Festival partnered with the U.Va. Office of Diversity and Equity and the Center for Politics to present the HBO Documentary Sing Your Song. Larry Sabato and activist Harry Belafonte participated in a post-screening discussion.

Also in 2012, the Festival presented Chasing Ice, a documentary about National Geographic photographer James Balog’s quest to document the disappearance of glacier landscapes using time-lapse photography. Chasing Ice Study Guide

The 2011 screening was The Loving Story, a documentary that chronicles the tale of Richard and Mildred Loving, the Virginia interracial couple who, in the 1960’s, took their battle for acceptance all the way to the Supreme Court, and changed history in the process. A panel discussion organized by the Virginia Foundation for the Humanities followed the film. The Loving Story Study Guide

In 2010, director Stanley Nelson and three of the original Freedom Riders participated in a discussion following Freedom Riders, a compelling documentary about non-violent civil rights activists willing to risk their lives for a cause. Freedom Riders Study Guide